Disneyland with the Entire Family

I will try to do the best I can with remembering the order of events but in this entire week is a bit of a blur. We went to Disneyland, the beach, the zoo, and Sea World! Wowza!

 A little while ago I went to Disneyland with my family. It was loads of fun. There were a few things that we came across that we didn't think of until we got there. One was how to keep everyone happy and make it a good fun time for EVERYONE. There were 4 adults and 5 kids ages 2,4,6,11, and 12. The trip was a success. Here are some things that worked for us and some things that didn't.

I was worried that the younger kids would get restless and cranky waiting in the lines. So I took some entertainment--bubbles! 

Boy or boy there the bubbles a hit. I took 2 dollar store containers of bubbles but we had to end up having all the kids take turns. Even the older ones were entertained by the bubbles. The nearby kids really appreciated the bubbles, one crying baby in front of us was so distracted by the bubbles he forgot what all the fuss was about.

A Spritz bottle was another surprise hit.  I took a teeny 2 oz. spritz bottle to help keep the kids cool if it got too warm. The older two had a blast spritzing each other and staying fresh, my young 3 took turns watering the plants making and faces on the concrete. We of course had to refill the 1 I took at the park fountains.

Take plenty of snacks and water. Disneyland no longer refills the souvenir cups. You can purchase them, but you cannot get the refills anymore.

Take or rent a fold-able stroller. The three younger kids all ended up taking turns in it, Their poor feet were so tired, but they did NOT want to go home.  I few other things I packed where, extra warmer clothes, socks, snacks, w 

We wanted everyone to have a great time without splitting up too much and without only doing the “baby rides” or only doing the “big rides.” Here is what we did…

Get your fastpasses for the rides you can. Disneyland also has a parent swap. This is exactly what is sounds like. A group goes into the ride while another stays out with the kids. Those that go in first will get a ticket with a timestamp on it. You then come out, give the next group the pass and going and get on the ride. In some rides, like the Indiana Jones ride there still about a 15-20 minute wait between rides. Some are instant, it just depends on the ride. Make sure to ask your Cast member for specific details.

When we first got there out littles were wide awake and so we decided to start the day in the “baby rides,” the compromise was that older ones got to choose which ones we’d ride. *My daughter was deathly afraid of the Pinocchio and Snow White rides, they were a little too doom and gloom for her tastes…just FYI* Then we did some of the in between rides that are fun but basically anyone can ride, like the Dumbo ride, after that my daughter fell asleep. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF NAP TIME! This is when we high tailed it to the some of the big rides.  The 4 and 6 year old were tall enough for most of the big rides with the exception of Indiana Jones. I can’t remember what order we went in. 

After my daughter woke up it was lunch time. We all took minute to eat. Then we continued with it's a small world.  The day pretty much went like this, There was a but when we actually did Indiana Jones, the two younger one couldn't ride, so I went into the tree house there with them and that took up most of our wait time. Then while the next group waited for us they took the little one to the Winnie the Pooh ride and character meet. After we were done we met up there and continued the adventure. At the end of the evening we went to California Adventure Park. By this time my daughter fell back asleep. She was done for the night. So the rest of the night was devoted to getting the rest of the "big rides."  That was really our night.